The Canadian sharpshooter who set a new world record when he shot and killed an Islamic State fighter in Iraq from two miles away also pre-empted an oncoming attack from the radical group, a special forces official said.
The Islamic State insurgents were preparing to attack an unwitting Iraqi military unit — that is, until the Canadian sniper fatally shot one radical, sending the rest of the cell running for cover. The impressive shot thwarted the planned attack, Canada’s Global News reported.
“This attack was massing unbeknownst to our partner forces, because it was happening very quickly in a very dynamic sort of environment,” Brig. Gen. Peter Dawe, a deputy commander in the Canadian special forces, told the outlet. “And so our team was able to engage, and not only successfully stop that particular enemy fighter, but pre-empt a mass attack.
“That’s a significant achievement,” he said.
Dawe didn’t offer any additional details about the sniper or the stunning shot over fear that too much information could put Canadian forces in danger. The commander said the military is working to be “as transparent as we can be without compromising the welfare and the safety of our men and women deployed overseas.”
The sniper, a member of the country’s Joint Task Force 2, hit the ISIS fighter sometime in the last month. Using a McMillan TAC-50 rifle, a .50-caliber weapon, there were only 10 seconds from when the sharpshooter pulled the trigger to when the bullet struck the radical.
The world record was previously held by British sniper Craig Harrison, who in 2009 shot a Taliban fighter from a little more than 1.5 miles away.
Dawe noted that the Canadian forces are on the ground in an advisory role. He said the country’s troops “are not leading offensive operations."
“But when you’re advising and assisting,” Dawe continued, “it’s exactly what those two terms would suggest. To assist effectively means to also look after the partner forces with whom you’re working.”
